A Grown-up Book for People Who Like Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia

The final Harry Potter movie is coming out this month. If you liked reading the Harry Potter series and the Chronicles of Narnia series, try reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman. This is a book about magic with dark overtones. The main character, Quentin, is a high school senior who has always loved the “Chronicles of Fillory” and feels disconnected with his world. He goes for a college interview only to find the interviewer dead and a strange paramedic there who gives him an envelope that leads him to Brakebills, a college for magicians. He passes a grueling entrance exam and then alternates between studying and boozing. His friends are Alice, Eliot, Janet, and Josh, a group from the “Physicals” discipline of magic. At one time, a magic spell goes wrong in the classroom and unleashes a man from another world with tragic results. The course of study is difficult, but once the students graduate, they do nothing. They are self-centered and hedonistic. Then another student finds Quentin’s group of friends and says that he has a magic button that will actually take them to Fillory. Be careful what you wish for because it just might come true. This book is not just about magic, but about finding a purpose, making the transition to adulthood, and living the life you have. A sequel called TheMagician King will be published in August.